The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it may be described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
Various climate systems for electric and hybrid vehicles may be inefficient or may place a significant drain on the main vehicle battery. Supplemental adsorption-based thermal batteries have recently been developed that are capable of providing both heating and cooling of passenger compartments with minimal use of the main vehicle battery. The capacity of thermal batteries may be limited, at least in part, based on the size of an adsorbent bed. Thus, it may not be possible to operate a vehicle having a single thermal battery for great distances or in extreme climates. In order to “recharge” or regenerate a thermal battery, the absorbent bed component of a thermal battery may need to be heated to a temperature of about 200° C. in order to remove operating fluid, typically water, from the adsorbent medium. Currently, the regeneration process is typically accomplished while concurrently recharging the main vehicle battery, such as an electrochemical battery pack, using resistance heaters during plug-in charging.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a thermal energy management system that is capable of providing an enhanced range and higher efficiency, or driving distance per unit energy. For example, it would be desirable to have a system that can provide adequate and continuous climate control during increasingly longer drive periods resulting from improved vehicle ranges.